Abordagem Multidimensional à Preservação de Gravações Áudio Históricas: Um Estudo dos Mecanismos de Degradação Química e Microbiológica

PreservArt project addresses significant challenges in preserving cultural heritage stored on magnetic tapes. By comprehensively assessing two large collections from different institutions and documenting degradation and contamination issues, the research aims to provide valuable insights into the preservation needs of tape-based audio. Studying materials, chemical degradation and microbiological contamination will help to understand degradation mechanisms and enable more effective preservation strategies. PreservArt seeks 4 main goals objectives, O.1 to O.4: O1: Tape Assessment, Restoration, and Digitization O1.1: to provide an in-depth diagnosis of the tape's status, identifying any mechanical problems, potential chemical degradation, and microbiological contamination; and to provide detailed documentation of all observations. O1.2: to carrying out conservation and restoration measures to address identified degradation and contamination issues and assessing tape playability. O1.3: to digitise audio documents and assess the quality of the digitised signal; and to identify and document audio problems, correlating them with previously observed degradation. O2. Material Characterization and Degradation Investigation: O2.1: to investigate the chemical composition of tape materials, identify degradation mechanisms and factors contributing to chemical degradation, and correlate tape materials and chemical degradation. O2.2: to conduct a detailed study of microbiological contaminants affecting tapes; and to identify contaminant types, sources and correlations with tape degradation and audio signal quality. O2.3: to correlate chemical degradation, microbiological contamination with the mechanical problems observed and audio signal defects. Identify causal relationships between degrading factors and audio problems. O3: Terminology, SWO, and Database Design: O3.1: to consolidate and standardise the terminology for magnetic tape audio documents; and to expand the existing SWO. O3.2: to design an interoperable, efficient, and scalable relational database model to facilitate metadata management; and to provide easy access to the project results. O4: Comprehensive Diagnostic Tool Development: O4.1: To create a consolidated diagnostic tool for prioritising and preserving tape-archived heritage; and to provide guidelines and tools to help institutions and technicians effectively assess preservation needs. O4.2: Evaluate and consolidate research findings, report the results into reports (FCT) and publications for dissemination to stakeholders. O4.3: Disseminate research results through public presentations and reports to FCT. The goals of PreservArt are ambitious and innovative, going beyond the present state of the art. The development of a multidimensional model that links materials, storage conditions, chemical deterioration, microbiological contamination, and audio quality provides a novel perspective on the degradation process of magnetic tape recordings. Also, the simultaneous integration of disciplines such as chemistry, microbiology, and audio engineering in the study of tape degradation is innovative and interdisciplinary. PreservArt will standardise terminology and consolidate the existing SWO, enhancing it according to the needs of the study object and implementing it on a relational database to facilitate metadata management. Overall, PreservArt aims to expand the current knowledge and practices applied to historical audio tapes and to co